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> While the law bans setting higher prices through surveillance pricing, it doesn’t address reducing prices. If a company raises its prices for everyone, and th
by nzach 5mo ago
> While the law bans setting higher prices through surveillance pricing, it doesn’t address reducing prices. If a company raises its prices for everyone, and then offers individualized discounts, “suddenly you’ve arrived at the same outcome,” McBrien says.
While I agree with the intent of this law, I don't think it will be effective. If you have a system capable of jacking prices up you can just multiply this calculated delta by -1 transform that into a discount.
To effectively prevent this practice you probably need to ban any kind of personal discount. I don't think we will ever see such law, nor do I think this would be a good idea.
- gruez 5mo agoYeah, sounds like a law that's passed because it sounds/polls good (ie. "affordability"), even though it's addressing a non-existent problem and is trivial to work around.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 5mo agoUber pays drivers differential rates depending on how desperate they believe the driver to be. I can believe that UberEats demands a higher premium depending on the item and what they infer about you.
- gruez 5mo agoRight, but the law mentioned in TFA is specifically for grocery stores
- 0cf8612b2e1e 5mo agoFrom TFA Maryland’s law bans grocers and third-party delivery services from using a person’s personal data to set higher prices.
- gruez 5mo agoThat says nothing about the driver?
- slg 5mo ago>I don't think we will ever see such law, nor do I think this would be a good idea. Why isn't this a good idea?
- lotsofpulp 5mo agoBuyers and sellers should be able to negotiate prices however they want. It is how markets have worked since the dawn of human trading. It would also be costly to police. If the problem is that a grocery store has a monopoly in an area, then that is a different problem fixed by adding grocery store(s).
- sidewndr46 5mo agoMost pricing laws are built on the idea that this isn't OK. For example, I can't negotiate pricing directly with an automobile manufacturer. I have to go through a dealer so I am "protected".
- lotsofpulp 5mo agoThat is a pretty good example of why these laws are not OK.
- fn-mote 5mo agoThere are special laws made to protect the dealer's position. This is an exception not the rule. You should justify why it is improving price (or something) for consumers if you want to hold it up as an example.
- slg 5mo agoThis is a law about grocery stores. How much haggling do you think is happening at grocery stores?
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- bityard 5mo ago
- bombcar 5mo agoIf you dig around in your hotel room the next time you're there, you'll likely find a statutory "list of prices" - often showing $1,000 or more per night for a room you paid $150 for.
- brewdad 5mo agoIn my experience, it's usually posted on the back of the door.